Swimmer&#39;s headband

ABSTRACT

The swimmer&#39;s headband includes a continuous, flexible body that can be worn around the head. In profile, the flexible body includes a convex front end and a convex back end. The height of the back end is greater than the height of the front end. The curved front end conforms to and covers the user&#39;s forehead area, while the back end conforms to and covers the back of the user&#39;s head. The back end extends down to cover the neck, providing greater coverage for hair around the neckline. In profile, the bottom line of the swimmer&#39;s headband includes downwardly extending ear cover extensions between the front and back ends. The ear extensions cover the user&#39;s ears to protect the same from water exposure. The swimmer&#39;s headband is constructed from water-impermeable material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to swimming accessories, and particularly to a swimmer's headband that keeps hair in place and provides enhanced protection for hair and ears of the user.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many people enjoy swimming as a form of recreation, exercise and sports. This activity appeals to a wide range of individuals from toddlers to geriatric. Swimming exercises the whole body, increases cardiovascular activity and provides a low impact alternative to those who may not be physically able to perform traditional exercises.

While numerous benefits exist with swimming, many with hair can have difficulties in taming their hair during such activity. An extreme example points to athletes. Swim athletes, especially competitive racers, perfect techniques that streamline their movements and shave seconds off their time in reaching their goal. However, hair can produce hydrodynamic drag and obscure their view, which hampers their performance. Thus, most athletes wear swim caps to tuck their hair. Unfortunately, some with more hair than others may require extended time for proper fitting of the cap. Moreover, many such caps do not cover the ears, which can potentially create additional drag.

For most casual swimmers, swim caps are worn to protect their hair from water exposure. Some enjoy swimming without diving under the water. While swim caps function well in these instances, most conventional swim caps have limited coverage, i.e., most swim caps only cover the dome of the head, and depending on how well the hair is tucked in, stray hair still has a tendency to fall out. Moreover, the ears are normally not covered. Water trapped in the ears is an irritant, and in extreme circumstances can lead to infections if the water is not evacuated in time.

In light of the above, it would be a benefit in the swimming accessories arts to provide a device that can be worn on the head to effectively protect the hair and ears during aquatic activity. Thus, a swimmer's headband solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The swimmer's headband includes a continuous, flexible body that can be worn around the head. In profile, the flexible body includes a curved front end and an oppositely curved back end. The length of the back end is longer than the front end. The curved front end conforms to and covers the user's forehead area while the back end conforms to and covers the back of the user's head. The back end extends down to cover the neck, providing greater coverage for hair around the neckline. In profile, the bottom line of the swimmer's headband includes a downwardly extending ear cover extension between the front and back ends. This ear cover extension covers the user's ears to protect the same from water exposure. The swimmer's headband is constructed from water-impermeable material.

These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a swimmer's headband according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the swimmer's headband of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the swimmer's headband of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of a swimmer's headband according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of another embodiment of a swimmer's headband according to the present invention.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The swimmer's headband, generally referred to by the reference number 10 in the drawings, provides enhanced coverage of the user's hairline and the ears to protect the same from water exposure during aquatic activity. As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the swimmer's headband 10 includes an elongate band of material forming an endless, flexible loop or body 12. The flexibility allows the swimmer's headband 10 to easily slip over the user's head 11, yet provide a snug fit. The body 12 is preferably constructed from watertight or water impermeable material, such as rubber, latex, silicone, and the like. The edges of the body 12 can be reinforced with a bead of additional flexible, resilient material, a threaded rubber hem, or the like to provide an enhanced watertight seal around the edges, both top and bottom, once the swimmer's headband 10 is placed on the user's head H.

With reference to the side elevation view shown in FIG. 3, the swimmer's headband 10 includes a curved, convex front end 14 and an oppositely curved convex back end 16. The height of the front end 14 is smaller than the height of the back end 16. The convex front end 14 is constructed to conform to the natural curve of the user's forehead while covering the forehead. The flexibility of the swimmer's headband 10 allows the user to easily adjust coverage of the hairline at the forehead area so that hair is kept swept back, providing an unhindered view for the swimmer and preventing hair contact with the water in the regions covered by the headband 10 (the hairline around the forehead, extending rearward along the temples and over the ears, the back of the head at least from the base of the skull to the back of the neck, and over the ears). In addition, the user may tuck long hair into the rear portion 16 of the headband 10 due to the flexibility and resilience of the material.

Like the front end 12, the convex back end 16 conforms to the natural shape of the rear or back of the user's head H. The back end 16 fully covers the user's rear head portion and extends down to a curved neck extension 18. The back end 16 and the curved neck extension 18 form a sinusoidal curve in profile. The neck extension 18 is configured to cover a portion of the user's neck below the back hairline, which, in combination with the front end 14, provides full coverage along the hairline surrounding the head H.

As shown, the convex curvature of the front and back ends 14, 16 extends around the whole body 12, similar to the outer surface of a torus. Alternatively, the curve can be present in a portion of the front and rear sections of the body 12.

The swimmer's headband 10 also includes protection for the ears. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bottom line of the body 12 includes a first, upwardly extending curve 15 extending from the front end 14 towards the back end 16 and a second, upwardly extending curve 17 extending from the back end 16 towards the front end 14. Both the first and second curves 15, 17 meet at a common, curved ear flap or extension 20. The ear flap 20 is configured to cover the user's ear and protect the same from water exposure. In line with the physical parameters of users, the ear extension 20 is disposed at a relative height above the neck extension 18 but below the height of the front end 14.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3, the top line 22 of the body 12 is a curvilinear line extending from the front end 14 to the back end 16. The top line 22 can be straight around the forehead area and protrude upwardly around the mid-area of the head H towards the back end 16. This protrusion bolsters support for the hair around that area.

Some alternative constructions of the top line 22 are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In FIG. 4, the swimmer's headband 100 includes a straight top line 122. This configuration provides sufficient coverage and support for hair and potentially eases manufacturing processes and costs. In FIG. 5, the swimmer's headband 200 includes another curvilinear top line 222 that follows the contours of the bottom line of the body 12. This configuration also provides sufficient coverage and supports the hair, while reducing material used for manufacturing. It is to be understood that other profiles for the top line 22 can be used, and the above are exemplary of some of the profiles.

As shown in FIG. 1, the swimmer's headband 10 can be used in conjunction with a conventional swim cap C. This provides all around protection for the hair, since the swim cap C covers the dome of the head, while swimmer's headband 10 provides peripheral support for the remainder.

It is to be understood that the swimmer's headband 10, 100, 200 encompasses a variety of alternatives. For example, the swimmer's headband 10, 100, 200 can be provided in a variety of sizes, or in one-size-fits- all configurations. The latter can be constructed so that the body 12 can stretch to fit the user's head H without comprising comfort or constriction of the head H. The swimmer's headband 10, 100, 200 can be provided in a variety of colors, patterns and indicia.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims. 

I claim:
 1. A swimmer's headband, comprising a flexible, resilient body forming a permanent endless loop having a convex front end and a convex back end, the body being dimensioned and configured to be worn around a user's head, the back end having a greater height than the front end, the body being constructed from flexible water-impermeable material, the body further having: a curved neck extension extending down from the back end, the neck extension being adapted for covering a user's neck, the back end and the neck extension forming a sinusoidal curve in profile; curved ear extensions disposed between the front end and the back end, the ear extensions being adapted for covering a user's ears; and wherein the front end, the back end, the neck extension and the ear extensions provide protective cover for the user's hairline and ears to keep the hairline and ears dry when swimming.
 2. The swimmer's headband according to claim 1, wherein the body has a first upwardly extending curve extending from the bottom of the front end towards said ear extensions, and a second upwardly extending curve extending from said neck extension towards said ear extensions.
 3. The swimmer's headband according to claim 1, wherein said body has a top edge defining a curvilinear line having a straight portion extending from the front end towards the back end and an upwardly curved portion extending from the straight portion towards the back end.
 4. The swimmer's headband according to claim 1, wherein the top line comprises a straight line.
 5. The swimmer's headband according to claim 2, wherein the top line comprises a curvilinear line having a profile parallel to said first curve, said ear extensions and said second curve.
 6. The swimmer's headband according to claim 1, wherein said flexible water-impermeable material is selected from a group consisting of rubber, latex, and silicone. 